Articles of various types are frequently used for a variety of activities including outdoor activities, military use, and competitive sports. The articles frequently are exposed to soil during use and thus often accumulate soil (e.g., wet or moist inorganic materials such as mud, dirt, and gravel, wet or moist organic material such as grass, turf, and excrement, and wet or moist combinations of inorganic and organic materials) when the articles are used under conditions where soil is present. For example, components of a vehicle can accumulate soil due to splattering from a roadway or surface being traveled over. Likewise, objects used in playgrounds, in construction areas, or the garden can be subject to exposure to soil in the area of use by splattering or direct contact with unpaved surfaces.
In some cases, these articles are footwear. The outsoles of these types of footwear often are designed to provide traction on soft and slippery surfaces, such as unpaved surfaces including grass and dirt. For example, exaggerated tread patterns, lugs, cleats or spikes (both integral and removable), and rubber formulations which provide improved traction under wet conditions, have been used to improve the level of traction provided by the outsoles.
While these conventional means generally help give footwear improved traction, the outsoles often accumulate soil. In some instances, the soil can accumulate in the tread pattern (when a tread pattern is present), around and between lugs (when lugs are present), or on shafts of the cleats, in the spaces surrounding the cleats, and in the interstitial regions between the cleats (when cleats are present). The accumulations of soil can weigh down these types of articles and interfere with their normal use.
The articles of footwear shown in the figures are illustrated for use with a user's right foot. However, it is understood that the following discussion applies correspondingly to left-footed articles of footwear as well.